'The Pianist' (2002)

Adrien Brody is the title character in this drama based on a real-life Polish musician's memoir of surviving the Holocaust. Polanski had passed up a chance to direct the more morally uplifting "Schindler's List." In "The Pianist," death is presented as being grotesque, absurd and meaningless as often as it is heroic or noble.

Adrien Brody is the title character in this drama based on a real-life Polish musician's memoir of surviving the Holocaust. Polanski had passed up a chance to direct the more morally uplifting "Schindler's List." In "The Pianist," death is presented as being grotesque, absurd and meaningless as often as it is heroic or noble. (Guy Ferrandis / Focus Features)

Adrien Brody is the title character in this drama based on a real-life Polish musician's memoir of surviving the Holocaust. Polanski had passed up a chance to direct the more morally uplifting "Schindler's List." In "The Pianist," death is presented as being grotesque, absurd and meaningless as often as it is heroic or noble.Guy Ferrandis / Focus Features